Never A Bed of Roses
by SophiaWinter
Summary: No one has ever made Madge this angry before, it feels like she's burning on the inside. And it's all Gale's fault. Madge and Gale leaned on each other when Katniss was in the Games, and now their friendship is more passionate than ever. For good and for bad. Warning: profanity and adult content.
1. Fuck You Gale Hawthorne

_Warning_

_This story will contain profanity, violence, maybe some anxiety and of course very much sexual content._

_Hi guys! This is my first fanfiction so I would love some constructive criticism concerning my writing and my perception of the characters._

_I hope you've already figured out that I'm not Suzanne Collins, neither do I own any of her books or her characters. But I hope you will like this story any way._

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**Chapter 1**

**Fuck You Gale Hawthorne**

_SMACK!_

The wind whooshed out of my lungs, and I'm pretty sure I've got a red mark on my cheek the form of a small female pianist's hand. The right side of my face is warm and hurts like hell but a little smile still threatens to show on my face. _Man_, this girl has some – underestimated - strength. And guts! Not many sane people here in Twelve would dare lay a finger on me. Last time anyone was stupid enough to do so I sent him home with a broken nose, two fractured ribs and five broken fingers on his left hand as a reminder that he would never ever try to touch me again.

I look down on this petite girl and she still looks like she wants to kill me. I can't even give her one of my angry glares. She's so cute when she's angry. No scratch that, she's fucking sexy. Her cheeks are red and I can almost see the blood boiling beneath them, her eyes are narrowed as if she's a predator and I'm her pray and her chest is heaving in and out as if she's going to jump me and scratch my eyes out with those perfectly manicured nails any second. I don't even get disgusted with myself for already imagining her clawing other parts of me with those nails, but I make myself push that imagination away until later, when I'm alone.

I look at her left hand, which _should_ sting like a bitch, given how my cheek feels right now, but her face doesn't show the slightest bit of pain. She's so mad she probably doesn't even feel the pain. She's surprisingly enduring and not as fragile as I thought, this tiny 17-year-old.

It's hard not to look at her breasts. I mean she's breathing so hard they almost fall out, and that blue little dress of hers with spaghetti straps only makes it harder to tear my eyes away. I mean she's practically serving them to me on one of those silver plates I know they have in their house.

I don't really listen but I know she's scolding me again and I can't hold my posture any more. It's so funny to see her this mad. I feel myself smirk and I can literally see the angry blush creep from her cheeks down her throat to her chest. I imagine her blood boiling under her skin, wanting to get out, and that it's me causing her to feel this. My smirk gets even bigger and I almost laugh but she surprises me again.

She takes two steps towards me, and now she's so close I can touch her. I can grab her waist and press her frail little body against me. I can even hit her back if I'd wanted to, but I wouldn't. Gale Hawthorn _never _hits a girl, no matter how much she deserves it, especially not this girl. Hell this time I might've actually deserved that slap. Before I can develop this creepy little one-man conversation in my head she watches me dead in the eye and she speaks.

"_Fuck you_ Gale Hawthorn." She says in a low voice dripping with fury. With that she quickly turns around, her hair almost whipping me in the face, and I watch her walk away from me, her light blue dress swinging angrily around her thighs, until she's just a black dot in my vision. After a certain amount of time - I have no fucking clue how long I've been standing here watching her walk away – I lie down on the floor of flowers in the meadow, close my eyes and sigh. Once more I've been a dick to her. Maybe I should just make one of those silence promises and never ever utter a single word. Would we stop fighting then?

To be honest, I enjoy making her angry. I know it sounds horrible, and it probably _is _horrible, but I like it when she's all and fire and flames. I _like_ seeing our towns perfect little Mayors daughter passionate over something else than a piano or some flower or a bird. (However, I have to admit I like those parts of her too. You know, the soft things.) Who would've guessed, a couple of weeks ago, that me and the fucking princess of all merchant girls would share this fire? Not me any way!

Although I've never made her hit me before. And she's never cursed at me before either. That was unexpected. Come to think of it, it was actually pretty hot. Maybe I'm starting to rub off on her.

Will this little midget – this _painfully sexy_ midget – ever stop surprise me? After an hour on the meadow floor I'm still totally confused by the events of the latest half hour, but these things I'm sure of:

**1.**Madge Undersee should stop breathing in public. For her own - and my - safety.

**2.** I will have to endure a whole day in school with this slap mark on my cheek tomorrow. On second thought fuck that, I'll skip school, it's not worth all the bitching my friends will put me through.

**3.** It was _so_ fucking worth it.

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_Next update will come very soon. Thanks for reading and I hope you liked the first chapter, there's more to come._


	2. Everything Is Fair In Love And War

_Hi again guys! I'm so happy that you wanted to read another chapter.__Love__you for that. So before you say anything, I know there were some mild grammar and spelling mistakes in the first chapter, I saw them when I read it through a couple of minutes ago. I'll try not to repeat that in the future, but you know it's easy to slip when English isn't your native language. Again, thank you for keep reading! Hugs!_

_P.s. Thanks for all the compliments and opinions you've shared with me! I'm so grateful. And oh, another thing I might have to clarify: Madge is not a midget, it's just a part of Gale's playful way of describing how short she is._

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**Chapter 2.**

**Everything is fair in****love****and war**

_Madge pov_

"Stupid, thickheaded, inflated, egocentric, boneheaded, stubborn, _idiot!_" I mutter angrily to myself as I kick small rocks, pine cones, leaves and even flowers out of my way on my hasty walk home from the meadow.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." I repeat every time I kick something.

Yes, that's what he is. Gale Hawthorn. I even swore at him. He deserved it though. Plus he curses all the time. I know he's still there, in the meadow. It wouldn't even surprise me if he's laying there laughing at me and my pathetic swearing.

I wish I could call him incompetent, but I can't. I am many things; enraged amongst them but a liar I am not. Gale is not incompetent. Though very often he is an absolute, total jerk.

He is so infuriating! I don't even know why I expose myself to this. To _him_. Why I spend time with him. I've never met anyone as annoying and frustrating as Gale Hawthorne, and yet he's the only person I've been with these last two months since Katniss's reaping. She's back now, and I'm _still_ hanging out with Gale. Am I some kind of masochist who _likes_ being verbally manhandled? I don't even know if he likes me. And I don't mean _likes _as in _loves,_I mean _likes_ in a don't-want-to-shoot-me-in-the-head-with-an-arrow kind of way. Are we even friends? It certainly doesn't seem so sometimes. I should just stop talking, being and thinking of him and pretend as if we never knew each other. Yes, I should do that!

But I can't and I know it before I've even tried it. I adore almost everything about this stupid, thickheaded, stubborn idiot. I can't even remember a time when I _didn't _freaking adore him and I can't _not_ think of him. It's already too late, I'm in too deep and I hate myself for it. I knew from the beginning that if I became friends with Gale it would all end badly, but I did it anyway.

The closest thing I can compare it with is Haymitch and his damned drinks. He takes one, and then he takes another one and then he's stuck. He can't _not_ drink, because even if the alcohol makes him ill later, he'll feel much worse if he's not drinking anything at all.

The sun is shining and the blue, pink and purple wild flowers that line the dirt road in the Seam are in full bloom this time of the year and I curse the scenery for picking such a horrible day to be beautiful. Normally, I love flowers, especially the ones in the Seam. They are so much more beautiful than the ones we plant in Town. These ones grow here all by themselves, without any help from humans. They belong here and that's their true beauty.

I use to say that to Gale and he always laughs at me, probably thinking I'm stupid, and I always let him. I can already feel how I'm letting our argument go, how I'm letting him run me over, letting him win. And I hate both him and myself for it.

"Why am I even doing this?" I groan again, this time out loud, hitting myself in the forehead with my palm. "Ouch!" I cry out in pain, suddenly remembering that I slapped him in the face with that very hand. Totally worth the pain.

"Why did you do it if it hurt?" I hear a high pitched voice asks me. I turn to my right and see Gale's little sister Posy standing beside me. Her raven hair is hanging in a low ponytail and the white ribbon I gave her this morning is hanging out from a hole in the pocket of her worn pants.

"What?" I say, mostly because I was so lost in my own thoughts and self-pity I'm not sure I heard her right.

"Why did you hit yourself in the head if it hurt?" she asks me again, a little louder this time, as if there was something wrong with my hearing. I think about her question and laugh bitterly in my mind because she thinks that I hurt my head when I hit it. She doesn't know that the pain was in my hand because I just slapped her brother in the face. How ironic.

"Sometimes people do stupid things Posy." I answer her in a light tone, hoping that she'll be satisfied with that dumb answer. While I sit down on my knees in the grass to be in her level she gives me a look, slightly resembling the one Gale gives me when I talk about flowers, and I see she's not giving up on this one.

"Why don't you wear the ribbon I gave you this morning honey? Don't you like it?" I ask her to make her forget my dumb facepalm.

"It's so pretty I can't stop looking at it Madge, but Gale won't let me wear it. He will be mad at me." She says quietly while fiddling with the silky fabric of the ribbon. "You know he don't like it when you give me presents." She says even more quietly, with a sad voice. I know that that's the reason she doesn't wear it, and I know very well why he doesn't want her to, since that's the reason we started fighting today in the meadow. It's always the same story; how he "won't accept any fucking pity", because he can "damned well provide for his own family without charity" and yada yada. I _know_ all that. I know firsthand how much he struggles and risks to get food on the table every dag, warm clothes to the kids and even to put smiles on their faces. I _know_ that and I freaking worship him for that. But today it wasn't enough. He started rambling about "us Town kids who gets everything we ever wish for" and that it was humiliating and "a slap in the face" when I came to his house this morning and gave his little sister a white ribbon. How very ironic then that that's exactly what he got fifteen minutes later after some more arguing.

I pull Posy towards me, lift her chin up so I can look her in the eyes and say

"Well I think Gale is stupid sometimes," and smile mischievously. "Don't you agree with me?" I ask and wink at her with one eye. She smiles every bit as mischievous as me.

"Yes." She whispers in my ear, as if she is afraid he would hear her.

"Well I think that beautiful girls like you deserve to wear ribbons whenever they want to. No matter what their crazy big brothers say." I say to her "In fact," I say, getting an idea, "you can have all my ribbons if you want Posy."

"Would you really _do_that for me?" she asks me, breathless, with eyes as big as apples.

"Of course I would," I laugh, because she is just so terribly cute.

"Really _all_ of them Madge?" She asks with if possible even bigger eyes. "In _all those colors? Are you sure?_"

"Really _all_ of them Posy." I smile. "I'm so old, I don't need ribbons any more. I'd feel better if pretty little you had them than have them wasting in the back of my closet." I say. Then I take the white ribbon out of her hands, and manage to tie it in her ponytail while she's jumping up and down, with the brightest smile I've ever seen on her lips, asking me about all kinds of redundant questions about her soon to be ribbons. It's crazy but this six-year-old has actually managed to make me feel better.

In addition, she is unconsciously helping me in the fight against Gale. Of course, it makes me feel awful to use a six-year-old girl to win but hey – everything is fair in love and war.

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_That's it for today. A new chapter in Gales pov is coming up soon!  
Thank you for reading, and of course, as usual I'm open to all of your opinions on this story!_


	3. You're In Deep Shit Now

**Chapter 3**

**You're in deep shit now**

Gale pov

"_What the fuck_ happened to your _face_ man?"

"Shut up Thom." I say with an edgy voice, without looking at him while we walk through the gray corridors towards the schoolyard.

"Come on Gale, who was it? Was it a girl? I mean it couldn't have been a guy, unless you let yourself get beaten up by a guy who throws bitch slaps," he laughs "that would be the funniest-"

"Shut. The fuck. _Up_." I growl, now glaring angrily at him. He knows I'm gonna hit him if he doesn't shut up now.

"I know that look Galie," Oh _hell_ no! He _knows _I don't allow anyone calling me fucking nicknames (besides Posy). I don't hesitate to push him into a locker, raise my fist and-

"but look around you. We're in school, and you'll be expelled if you get caught fighting again remember?" he says with a grin and wink at me. "Now let me down and let's go eat. I'm hungry. And I'm still going to find out who hit you, whether you tell me or not."

I slowly lower my fist, give him another death glare and let him go.

"And don't think for a second that the guys won't nag you about this." He guffaws from behind me.

"Fucking _great." _I mutter to myself while walking towards my own death. I've practically tied myself to the whipping post.

Why did I even go to school today?

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Madge pov

Why did I even go to school today?

I ask myself, hiding as much as I can behind Katniss when I hear his friends from their usual table in the schoolyard. It's not working, but I don't care. He's not looking at me anyway. He never does... Oh my God, stop pitying yourself Madge. You're mad at him, remember? I groan at my freaky conversation with myself and my weak attempt at self-respect and drop my head in my hands.

I hiss out loud at the pain in my left hand, once again reminded of my violent outburst yesterday.

I swear, with my luck, I'm hurting more than him by that slap. still worth it though. It was a sign of self-respect, because I dared to show him that he had gone too far.

"What's wrong?" Katniss asks, looking at my red, swollen palm.

"Nothing. I just hurt my hand the other day." I tell her. It's not really a lie, I just didn't tell her exactly _how_ I hurt it. She doesn't need to know that. I actually don't even think she knows me and Gale know each other.

"Oh, okay." She says and keeps nibbling at her bread. I know she won't ask me any further questions. I like that part of her. She doesn't pry or interfere in other people's business, she knows that if I want her to know something – I will simply tell her.

I hear loud voices from Gales table again and I dare to take a quick glance. Gale's cheek is still red, ha! I hope he has been suffering from that today. He's still hot though. He's got that tall-dark-and-mysterious look working very well, that stupid beautiful man!

I take a deep breath to give myself some courage and search for his eyes. They are not available for the moment, since he's watching the pretty olive skinned girls on the other side of the yard. I can't help but to envy them with their fair, dark skin and long, dark hair. But mostly, because Gale watches them that way.

He would never watch me in that way.

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Gale pov

"It couldn't have been Hazelle, she'd never hit you even if you burned the freaking house down. You don't deserve a mom like that Gale." Thom teases. "Was it Katniss then?"

"No, if she wanted to hurt him she'd punched gim in the nuts or cracked his collarbone or something." Bristel giggles.

"Was it Posy? Damn that little girl must know how to fight!" Thom says.

"Shut up, it wasn't Posy you moron." I say, slapping him in the head, only getting angrier by the thought of my little sister. Of course she had that damned ribbon in her hair when I came back home last night. I couldn't even take it from her, she was all bouncy and happy, I couldn't bear to be the one taking that away from her. Fucking Madge, why does she always find a way to crawl under my skin? I mean come on, it was even fucking _white. _I mean she's spent a lot of time in the Seam lately, she should know we can't keep the soot away from _anything_. It was almost as if she wanted to rub it in my face that we Seam people are poor and dirty while she's all pure and clean.

"Okay then there's only your slag heap victims left," Thom said with a mischievous grin. "how lucky that most of them are all here in the school yard." He said, turning around.

"Amber, Jasmine, Iris, Daria," he shouts towards a couple of dark haired, olive skinned girls a couple of tables away. "did anyone of you slap G-"

"Okay, _okay! _Shut it, I'll tell you, you fucking prick." I hissed angrily at him. There's more than one way I could think of to wipe that stupid smirk off his face.

"It was Madge, all right." I said quietly in defeat.

"You got beaten up by the _Mayors daughter?_"

"I didn't get _beaten up_ you idiot, she just slapped me." I hissed, looking towards her and Katniss's usual lunch spot. I spot her immediately, wouldn't miss that blond head from miles away. It's almost as if she's wearing a fucking halo. How ironic. "And be quiet!"

"Fucking hell Gale, you just don't settle with _normal _fuck ups like the rest of us do you?" he whispers, suddenly serious. "I mean _come on_, she's the bloody Mayors daughter. Dude, what is it with you and your fucked up desire to always be in danger?"

"It's not like that Thom, she's not like that." I say, struggling to find the right words. "We've been hanging out a bit, and she's-"

"Are you_ fucking_ the fucking _Mayors daughter_?" Thom interrupts me wide-eyed.

"I'm not discussing this with you anymore, and no I am not." I say dismissively.

"But you _want_ to, don't you?" he says, narrowing his eyes on me.

"Didn't I say this discussion was over?"

"Oh you want to." Thom says.

"Gale, Gale, Gale, Gale." he sighs, leaning back on the bench, smirking at me.

"You're in deep shit now."

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_Thanks again for keep reading darlings, and thank you for adding me to your story and author alerts. You're giving me so much inspiration and desire to continue writing!_

_A new chapter is coming very soon, containing a meeting between Gale and Madge._

_Kisses_


	4. Now, Can You Please Put Me Down?

I catch Katniss looking weirdly at me from where she's crouching under an oak 30 feet from here while we wait for the deer we saw earlier to appear. Oh well, if she wants something she'll ask me, there's no point trying to figure out what's on her mind.

It scares me though. I used to know everything about her. I used to know exactly how she worked and what she thought about by only watching her posture or facial expression. I knew exactly how she would react to everything, but she's changed so much since she came home from the Games. I didn't notice it at first, but the more time I spend with her, the more I realize it.

I think the only thing holding her sane is Prim. She'd never do to Prim what their mother did when their father died. But her eyes are gloomy and it seems like she doesn't care that much anymore. I can see that she doesn't get enough nutrition or sleep. Probably having nightmares about her games. Hell, I know I would've.

It's as if she's still in the Games, as if they never let her go. It makes me fucking angry. The capitol took a part of my best friend from me, they changed her. It's like she's not my Katniss anymore. She's not Catnip.

I remember how mad I was when I saw her and that Mellark being all loving and cuddly on TV, how it felt as if he took her from me. But I was completely wrong. It wasn't Peeta who took her from me, it was the Capitol. It was Snow.

Now I only feel sorry for Mellark, the poor bastard. Come to think of it, it was Madge who got me to realize that. Fuck, why does she always manage to get in my head? Even when she's not even here physically she manages to do it. It's like she's everywhere; in the strawberries in the woods, in my sisters precious ribbon, in every piece of music I hear, even when I see the damned sun I think of Madge. Hell, I've even got a piece of her _on _me right now. My cheek is still red and stinging.

I'm totally lost in my own thoughts now and I didn't notice that Katniss had advanced, catching me touching my cheek. Great Gale, a hunter that doesn't even hear a human being approaching.

"What happened to your cheek?" she asks me lifting an eyebrow.

Shit, not again. Why can't even a single person I meet today ignore this fucking mark? Because karma is a bitch Gale, I answer myself.

"Nothing." I sigh. "Walked into a doorpost."

"Yeah right." She says sarcastically, recognizing the standard domestic violence line.

"Well, I got slapped okay?" I practically shout at her, surely scaring away all the game in a miles area. Yeah I'm fucking tired of all the nagging about this mark. I was tired of it even before Thom started harassing me about it this morning.

I guess Katniss understands that I'm on edge because she lets it go and we continue the rest of the hunt in silence. At least that part of Katniss isn't taken away from me. When she feels that something's bothering me and I don't want to talk about it, she lets me be. Madge on the other hand never let me to myself when I get upset about something. No, she want's to talk, talk, talk about it. She never lets me have a fucking thought to myself when I'm mad. Which is probably the reason why I always end up taking it all out on her. Which leads to us fighting, as usual.

I sit down on the earthy forest floor, putting my hands in the soft moss, closing my eyes, breath in the forest and whisper to myself

"Yep, I really am in deep shit."

* * *

The sun is setting when we climb under the quiet fence and as always when walking out of the woods and into district Twelve again, I feel the lack of freedom. I'm tired as hell and feeling a lot calmer than I was earlier though.

It's Friday, I think when I reach my house, which means there's no school tomorrow. I throw my heavy game bag on the stairs and sit down beside it, finally allowing myself to relax. I crack my neck and shoulders, trying to let go of the tension in them, close my eyes and trying to absorb as much peace and quiet as I can in ten minutes. That's all I can bear taking from ma, letting her handle those three little headaches for ten more minutes, before I'll go in and help her.

But there's no such luck.

"Hi Gale" I hear a squeaky voice near my ear and feel two very small arms twist around my neck. I take a deep breath and sigh tiredly.

"Hey Pose" I'm still keeping my eyes closed, but I can easily hear her sitting down beside me on the stairs. She's quiet for a little bit, trying very hard to give me some space I can tell. But at last she can't hold herself anymore.

"So how have your day been?" she asks me sounding like an old lady. It makes me want to laugh, but it's sad at the same time because she, as every other kid from the Seam has to grow up far too fast.

"My day has been very tiring," I sigh, leaning back on the stairs "how's yours been?"

"Lucky then that there's no school tomorrow. It's Saturday right?" She smiles at me, and I can't _not_ smile back at her. "Yes tomorrow's Saturday."

"Well, my day has been fun." She starts, and tells me every damn little detail of her day and I listen. I don't know what it is with this little troll, but I can't deny her anything in the world. I can't even zoom out when she's babbling, even though I know I can do it unnoticed.

"You're right, that _does_ sound fun." I tell her, stroking her tousled hair, only to find the white ribbon at the end of her long braid.

She freezes, searching my eyes, guessing that I'm angry at her.

"Madge hurt her head yesterday." She says quietly. The ribbon probably made her think of Madge, just like I did. Then I realize what she's saying.

"_What?_" I say, already getting worried. "Is she alright? What did she do Posy?" I almost shout, grabbing her arms. I'm only getting more worked up by the second. Fucking hell, you can always trust Madge to get injured. I mean, she's so fragile. Once she even sprained her wrist when she walked off the fucking sidewalk.

"She hit herself in the head."

"What? How do you mean she _hit_ herself?"

"She hit herself in the head, with her hand." Posy articulates slowly.

"Well that was weird." I say, relieved. If what Posy says is true then Madge is fine.

"I know, and when I asked her why she told me she did it because 'sometimes people do stupid things.'"

"Really?" I say, confused. "'sometimes people do stupid things'?"

"Yes, that's what she said. Now can you please let me down?" she says, dangling her feet above the ground, giving me a stern look, looking awfully a lot like ma. It's fucking scary how much Pose resembles her sometimes.

"Oh, sorry." I say, putting her down on the stairs. I didn't even notice I'd lifted her.

"I know. It's okay." She smiles, taking my hand and steering me in through the door. "Sometimes you're just to strong for your own good Gale."

"You little suck-up," I tell her and tickle her in the sides while she screams at me to stop. "But seriously, was she okay when she left?"

"I think so. But maybe she should go to Mrs. E and check it." She says thoughtfully, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"Maybe you two could go there together, so you can fix your cheek." She says, looking up on me. Well that would've been fun, wouldn't it?

That reminds me, I'll have to go to Madge tomorrow. Ugh I hate apologizing, especially when I don't think I've done anything wrong. I did mean what I said to her yesterday. Maybe not the things about Townies looking down on us and all that, but the other things, about not wanting her to treat my family as a charity case.

Well, well, what wouldn't I do for that damned little blonde?

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_Okay I know I said this chapter would contain some Gadge action, but I couldn't get it together. I just had to expand the conversation between Gale and Posy, I just love his little sister and how she makes everything sound so easy. Love writing her!_

_Anyway I'm sorry I couldn't fit the Gadge action in this chapter. But you would rather wait another chapter for the quality stuff than having me squeezing in the short and poorly written version in the end of this chapter right?_

_I promise - Gadge action in chapter 5, comming soon. Maybe even tomorrow!_


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